hmm Our Tax Office seems to be outsourcing reminder services to Brazil. I submitted my BAS reporting yesterday via the "secure" Business Portal into ATO; works with AUSkey: no emails needed.Surprised to receive an email this morning, advising that my payment had been delayed by 7 days, and I was required to pay in 48 hours "to avoid aditional (sic!) costs" - "Please click attachment" to see details. yeah - rright!Even more surprisingly, the sender's address ends in .com.br - it's in Brazil!

Oh, and another thing: this time I don't have to pay a thing, but am about to receive a GST refund..I have forwarded the whole thing to reportemailfraud@ato.gov.auLet them deal with it

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I trade daily, but I am not a licensed adviser. Whether you find my ideas reasonable or not: The only person responsible for your actions is YOU.I follow two rules: (1) There are no sacred truths. All assumptions must be critically examined. Arguments from authority are worthless. (2) Whatever is inconsistent with observed facts must be discarded or revised. We must understand the Market as it is and not confuse how it is with how we wish it to be. (inspired by Carl Sagan)

The recent Heartbleed attack on eBay may have sparked some flow-on effect. This morning, I received a genuine-looking confirmation email from PayPal, about payment for a purchase I (allegedly) made recently. It contained the usual link to the item I allegedly bought - except I know I didn't buy a cool puppy bed.

In case anyone receives a similar "dodgy" message, please be careful and don't click on any link:

The email differed in at least three key features that gave it away as being fake: The salutation just said "Hello:" whereas PayPal will greet clients with their full name; The paypal address, from which it was sent, has some extra characters in it; Although it was sent to my correct email account, PayPal uses my client name as Alias; the fake didn't.

I forwarded the fake to spoof@ebay.com.au before deleting it from my Inbox; hope it helps them catch the barstuds.

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I trade daily, but I am not a licensed adviser. Whether you find my ideas reasonable or not: The only person responsible for your actions is YOU.I follow two rules: (1) There are no sacred truths. All assumptions must be critically examined. Arguments from authority are worthless. (2) Whatever is inconsistent with observed facts must be discarded or revised. We must understand the Market as it is and not confuse how it is with how we wish it to be. (inspired by Carl Sagan)

Duster--I got a strange call from an Indian gentleman muttering something unintelligible about helping me with my Telstra home phone account which was I thought somewhat odd since I don't have a Telstra home phone account so told him to .... off.

Remember arty think it was saying that big organisations simply don't ring/email you out of the blue so its a toss up as to who one tells to ....off!

I've seen lots of fake emails from financial institutions, the Tax Office, even telcos. This is a new one and warrants a reminder IMHO. Looks authentic enough, but you can bet your bottom Dollar it's a fraud. I know because I don't have a NAB account.

QUOTE

Dear Member,

We have recently noticed many attacks to our database and this requires us to rebuild our system integrity. We regularly screen our members account information to reduce FRAUD & ID Theft.

This security measure is intended to help protect our NAB(National Australia Bank) members and their accounts. We are sorry for any inconvenience. However, failure in reviewing and updating your account information will result in your account suspension. You are requested to visit our website and fill in the required information.

To continue click here, and follow the steps.

Please do not reply to this message. For any inquiries, contact Member Services.

I have a similar one forwarded to NAB's hoax line. Seems the crims won't give up.

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I trade daily, but I am not a licensed adviser. Whether you find my ideas reasonable or not: The only person responsible for your actions is YOU.I follow two rules: (1) There are no sacred truths. All assumptions must be critically examined. Arguments from authority are worthless. (2) Whatever is inconsistent with observed facts must be discarded or revised. We must understand the Market as it is and not confuse how it is with how we wish it to be. (inspired by Carl Sagan)

The Telstra email doesn't bother me - anything from Telstra goes straight into the bin because I don't have an account with Telstra.

But similar emails are being circulated from (spoofed) look-alikes of ebay, paypal, and several others.They seem to be mailed in batches to a variety of emaill addresses. On some days, I receive the same "advice" sent to two or three different addresses - preferably to ones that I give out to news services or have made up for entering a competition.

So, if an email arrives from "ebay" to anywhere but the ebay account, I don't even open it.

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I trade daily, but I am not a licensed adviser. Whether you find my ideas reasonable or not: The only person responsible for your actions is YOU.I follow two rules: (1) There are no sacred truths. All assumptions must be critically examined. Arguments from authority are worthless. (2) Whatever is inconsistent with observed facts must be discarded or revised. We must understand the Market as it is and not confuse how it is with how we wish it to be. (inspired by Carl Sagan)

I see your point Arty, but perhaps you are not aware that plenty of internet vendors who send goods by parcel post, courier or a combination of post and courier, often via the Netherlands for some odd reason, although it must have something to do with cost, do have the recipient's email address. Who is to know how they might display it or make it known to a carrier.

Sometimes those emails may seem quite authentic and difficult to identify as fraud. In those situations, I have called relevant service centre directly, be it, bank,university or whatever institution. In ALL instances, the emails re acct details were FRAUDULENT. As a routine, I now forward the email enquiry to relevant service centre - after making direct contact with human - for verification. This has saved both money and anxiety.

Also, frequently scan hard disk for any form of unwanted addition to your software - generally, if you did not put it there then you are probably better off with its removal.